The schedule represents a return to a full conference slate of eight games after an abbreviated run (five games) in the Great American Conference’s inaugural season.

Arkansas Tech will enjoy seven home games in 2012 on the new artificial turf field currently being installed in Thone Stadium at Buerkle Field.

“Due to the nature of our schedule a year ago, we thought it was important for us to play as many games at home as we could and we’re fortunate that it worked out,” athletic director and head football coach Steve Mullins said. “We will be able to play seven games this year on our new turf field at Thone Stadium. Our players are really excited about it.

“The new turf is the last piece of the puzzle in all of the renovations that have been done to Thone Stadium the past four years.”

The Wonder Boys, the 10th all-time winningest Division II football program with 526 victories, opens its 98th season of football Sept. 1 against Bacone College at home. The season opener will kick off at 6 p.m. and will be the first of three consecutive home contests for ATU to open the 2012 campaign. The three consecutive home games to open the season is a first for the program since 1949.

Arkansas Tech will host Missouri S&T in week two. Missouri S&T was formally known as the University of Missouri-Rolla. It is the first time ATU has faced the Miners since the 1934 season when the Wonder Boys earned a 6-0 win in Rolla.

ATU will open GAC play against Henderson State at 6 p.m. Sept. 15, part of Family Day festivities on the Tech campus. It will mark the 81st meeting in the series between the two schools and the first since 2010. Tech leads the all-time series with the Reddies 44-36.

“It will be nice to once again play a complete conference schedule after playing a limited league schedule last season,” said Mullins, who is entering his 16th season at the helm of the Wonder Boys this fall.

Tech will embark on its first of four road games in week four at Ouachita Baptist. Kickoff is slated for 7 p.m. against OBU in Arkadelphia, and it will mark the 76th meeting in the series and first between the two schools at OBU since Tech earned a 55-35 win during the 2006 season.

The Wonder Boys will return home Sept. 29 to host Northwestern Oklahoma State in a 6 p.m. non-conference game. NWOSU is slated to become the 11th member of the GAC once it is approved for NCAA Division II membership. Those two schools haven’t met on the gridiron since the 1994 season when Tech rolled to a 31-10 win in Russellville.

Tech will open October at home and welcome Southeastern Oklahoma State for its annual homecoming game on Oct. 6. It marks the second consecutive season the Savage Storm have been Tech’s homecoming opponent. The Wonder Boys earned a 28-16 win last season.

Tech will go back on the road in week seven at Weatherford, Okla., for a 2 p.m. game on Oct. 13 at Southwestern Oklahoma State. Tech will host Arkansas-Monticello on Oct. 20 at 2 p.m., before closing out the month on Oct. 27 at Harding. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. in Searcy.

Tech’s final home contest will be against East Central in a GAC contest on Nov. 3. Kickoff for the Senior Day game is set for 2 p.m.

The Wonder Boys will close out the 2012 regular season with a 2 p.m. game on Nov. 10 at Southern Arkansas. It will mark the second-straight season ATU has played in Magnolia.